C-C-Cold Man

I’m freezing my ass off here in Korea. It got down into the lower twenties today (about -4 to -5 C). Thankfully, the place I’m staying is literally a block away from two of the places in Seoul I wanted to visit.

My “cold weather clothes” consists of a t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt, a button up long-sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, and my rain jacket (no insulation). I have a hat, so my head and my body core are fine, but my hands and arms are numb if I spend much time outside. I honestly wasn’t planning on ever spending time in this sort of weather.

Today for lunch I walked past a restaurant that sold friend chicken. They had the Monday Night Football game on live with the Pats vs Ravens, so I figured I’d go and be an American for an hour, have some wings and watch the end of the game.

The problem I have going into many restaurants is communication. Most places do not have menus in English or photo menus. All I wanted was a few pieces of chicken and some fries. That’s it. Pretty simple I thought. There was a photo on the wall of exactly what I wanted, so I pointed to it. They guy said “potatos ?” and I said “yes” to confirm that I also wanted potatos.

What I was given was a huge plate of fries and tater tots with no chicken. There must have been some sort of mix up in expressing what I wanted. Oh well. That happens and I wasn’t going to get upset. I guess I’m going to have fries and tots for lunch.

I ate most of my potatos and was pretty full.

…then came the big plate of chicken. So after eating a ton of fried starch, I had a big plate of fried chicken.

So, now I’m really full….and cold. Tomorrow I’m going to visit two sites, the next day I’m going to visit the DMZ, and then I think I’m heading out to HK. Current temperature according to the internet is 70F (21C).

I really wish I had come here when it was warmer. I was planning to stay overnight at the Haeinsa Temple and get to spend a day with the Buddhist monks, and I would like to have visited Cheju Island. That will have to wait for another time.

By MalHavoc December 5, 2007 - 5:04 am

I figured you’d be cold. When you mentioned seeing snow in old episodes of M.A.S.H., I immediately thought “What you mean was, you remember Radar and Hawkeye huddled around a wood stove, and entire episodes revolving around the theft of mittens.”

If it makes you feel any better, it’s -14 C outside right now, and we got 45 cm of snow yesterday.

I’m about to head home to Canada and I’m living in fear. I think I’ve forgotten what true coldness really is. I’m pretty sure South Korea comes close so I feel your pain. There’s certainly something to be said for following the summer around.